We spent the entire day at Universal Studios. Were there by 9.00 am, and initially thought there wasn't going to be anybody there! We were surprised at the low numbers - which did increase slightly as the day wore on.

Initially we had intended to buy a "front of queue" pass, which we thought was an additional $40 each, but found it was going to cost us $120US, so opted not to do so. This was one of the best decisions we made all day. There were no problems with queues. AT the most we had a 10 minute wait for anything - and really it was only on two things - the initialy tour around the Universal backlot, and one other ride we did. The longest wait of (20 minutes) was to get in for lunch at 2.45 pm!!! We had left it later thinking the crowds would die down, but they didn't - they just seem to eat all the time over there, it is astounding.

In talking to the staff, they said that the downturn had affected their numbers

. In the past everything had pretty much a 20 minute queue at as a minimum, whereas now the numbers were more like what we experienced. This was wonderful for us. We had a very relaxing day. We did absolutely everything - saw all the shows, did all the rides, and visited every display that was available.

It is not Disneyland, but it has enough rides of interest to keep kids (and the kids at heart), and a number of different kinds of shows as well. We did a kind of "musical" show for the Creature from the Black Lagoon. Didn't know what it was going to be, but thoroughly enjoyed it. Also did the Water World show - which was an action packed event, where those sitting close got absolutely drowned. It was also heaps of fun just watching - and very spectacular with fire works and planes flying into the arena, and things blowing up!

Eventually we made our way out to the Airport Mariott Hotel (a mere 9 miles but took about 45 minutes) which was for our last night's accommodation in LA, prior to departure. I must have been tired, as I took a couple of wrong turns on the way in, and managed to get ourselves right into down town LA, and of course the GPS system acknowledged that I had gone off the rails, but wouldn't give me any directions to get back to the freeway

. I guess it was because of all the tall buildings. I managed to fall over a sign to the I105, and got back on to that, and our GPS picked us up again and got me back on track. A little stressful, as we had been told to keep out of down town LA - but really, it wasn't a problem.

In all our travels we made a few wrong turns, but never managed to get ourselves into an area that was uncomfortable, or where we felt we could be in danger. The place that gave us both the most creeps was the Hollywood area. Ultimately Malcy was happy with where we were staying, but I wouldn't like to have walk the streets in the dark. However, as it is daylight until 10 pm, that was never an issue anyway, and we never went out alone either.